Doula

I've had a few questions about having a doula at our birth, so I thought I'd explain a little further here. I'm certainly no expert & if there is anyone out there reading who knows more on the subject than me, feel free to correct me. I'm just going to explain why I want a doula & how it's going to work for us.

Ava's birth went very well, but was very long. Since I have no family here at all, it was just me & Edward. That's all we really wanted in the birthing room, but as wonderful as Edward was, he was more clueless than me about the labor process. I read the books, I thought I was prepared. But nothing could prepare me for how much pain it was. I never took any birthing classes & I just didn't end up prepared to deal properly with the pain. After 7 hours of labor, I found out I was only 3 cm dilated. That was when I decided to get the epidural. I never regretted it because it was the right decision for me at the time, but I've always thought that if I had someone to help me through it, I might have made a different decision.

When I got pregnant this time, I started thinking about that again. The epidural itself was wonderful (if you've had one, you know what I mean!), but I also remember feeling so tired afterwords. I couldn't walk around for awhile because my legs were too weak & they gave a catheter. I just don't want that feeling of helplessness after the baby is born this time around.

Edward & I discussed hiring a doula, which is a pretty common thing here in the Bay Area if you want a drug free birth. I started looking into it when one of the mom's in my mom's group mentioned that she had a friend who was in training & willing to offer her services for free because she needed one more birth in order to get her certification. At the time, I thought doula services around here were about $400-800, a great deal! I've since found out that they are more like $1000, so an even better deal!

We met with our doula a few months ago & knew right away that she was great. She's not at all new-agey, but she feels like we do that birth is a very natural thing & that too many women have regrets about their delivery. She wasn't pushy at all & we both felt very comfortable with her.

The one problem is that she's moving to the Midwest on Feb 27th. So this baby can't be late! However, she has a friend who also in training who needs more births. So we met with her & she is going to be our back up. The back up doula is actually going to attend either way. So I may have two doulas at my birth! The best part? The back up doula is a massage therapist so I'm looking at getting massages throughout labor if I want. Fabulous!

We met with both of them again last week & I've actually been very, very excited about the birth ever since. I know it'll still be painful, but I'm looking forward to having someone there to remind me how to breathe, and the different poses I've learned in yoga to help me through. I know that I can do this drug free.

I'm definitely eager for this baby to be born! I'm at 37.5 weeks, so this baby can come anytime! Of course, since I want her to come early, I'm sure she'll end up coming late. It's just the nature of things, right? When we went to bed last night, Edward was convinced that this baby was coming either today or tomorrow. Now I've got it in my head that my water could break at anytime. It probably won't, but I can't help but wonder!